Meeting MSPs with #ArtUnlocks

This summer our #ArtUnlocks campaign is all about getting MSPs out to see what our members do every day: creating and support amazing art, that makes a real contribution to our communities.  

 Here are five easy ways to get involved: 

1. Invite your MSP

Ask your local MSP to come and see you at work, if you are an artist, or to visit a gallery, workshop or event that you are involved in. Even a visit to their office or a visit to your studio or office, if you don’t have an active programme right now. You can use writetothem or find out more about your MSP and their contact details here  

Use our template to pop into an email or even send by snail mail. Feel free to personalise it and remember to add your name and address so your MP will know that you are one of their constituents.  

Check out our key themes to see what we are saying about how contemporary art contributes in communities across Scotland. Find out more about your MSP’s interests and expertise. You can find out about the committees they sit in or their work in parliament. You might link your work to a policy area that your MSP is interested in. 

Once you have made initial contact with your MSP, let us know here. 

2. Ask SCAN for help

We can contact your MSP, phone their constituency office, support your visit, and help share. In some cases, we might be able to offer support with press or photography. 

Get in touch with us here. 

3. Share on social media

Share the visit using #ArtUnlocks. Tag us and we’ll repost it to our followers on our  Facebook, Instagram and Twitter feeds.  

4. Show support for the campaign 

Use the #ArtUnlocks hashtag on social and tag us, and share the visual identity on your literature and online, to show you are part of the campaign. Download our visual assets here. You can print our #ArtUnlocks poster  

Order your Art Unlocks badges to share with your visitors and to wear to promote the campaign. Contact us to let us know how many you would like. 

 5. Lobby

To be heard by parliament or government many people ‘lobby’. It is a fundamental part of our democratic process. 

Lobbying allows organisations and individuals to inform and influence decisions made by our elected representatives and policy development by our government. 

Lobbying takes many different forms and can originate from individuals and interest groups; bodies representing their members or professions; charities and the voluntary sector and those who act in a professional capacity to lobby others. 

Regulated lobbying is lobbying which takes place face-to-face with MSPs, members of the Scottish Government, Special Advisers or Permanent Secretary and which relates to Scottish Government or Parliamentary functions. 

Regulated lobbying is a core concept of the Lobbying (Scotland) Act 2016. 

Parliamentary Guidance on the operation of the Act has been produced and is intended to assist those who may lobby. 

Read the Lobbying Register Guidance Here. 

 SCAN is registered with the Scottish Parliament’s lobbying register and if you have any questions, you can contact us.